Flavien – Interview

Interview with Pete Devine of Pete’s Rock News and Views (http://petesrocknewsandviews.com)

PD: How would you describe yourself or your band as an artist?

FLAVIEN: For me, my primary role as an artist is to make the spectators travel in their imagination.

Take them to another planet, to another universe.

Make them dream and wander for a few moments. Or make them immerse themselves in their imagination.

And for some, to help them forget their daily life and the world in which we live.

PD: Can you tell us briefly about your background – i.e. where you’re from, how you came to make music, etc.

FLAVIEN: I’m FLAVIEN, I was born on January 22, 1997 in Angers (France) and i still live in Angers today.

At 18 years old, i wanted to embark all my audience on a journey from sound to music and through texts.

Because I’ve always been a writer: from short films to personal collections and drafts of poetry. I continue my art studies after the baccalaureate and oscillate between graphic design, video and photography in order to develop my own graphic universe.

Then i started to learn singing and playing guitar, adding one more string to my bow, an additional creative mention that was missing in my art.

After a first purely rock’n’roll album recorded by an Angevin producer, I decided to set up «ARTANOS», my own label to pursue my elven music projects independently. Very inspired by Luc Arbogast (The Voice) and his medieval music, I embark on an opus as real as it is magical, accompanied and guided by the composer Christophe Voisin Boisvinet and the sound engineer Adrien Thore

PD: Who and what inspires you to make music, both in terms of musical and other influences? What do you like to write about in your songs?

FLAVIEN: The musical artists who inspire me are Luc Arbogast, Denez Prigent, Iggy Pop, Gun’s and roses, Indochine…

Or generally all these artists and creators inspire me and make me want to create: Leonardo da Vinci, Hans Talhoffer, Charles Beaudelaire, Tolkien, Louis de Funès, Peter Jackson…

My songs are about spirituality, freedom, fulfillment, war, heroes and love.

Music is one of the necessary dimensions to bring the public into my universe.

PD: What are your aspirations as an artist?

FLAVIEN: There are many things that inspire me as an artist!

To begin with, what our ancestors left us, like the environment in which I grew up and in which I live.

 Medieval culture is present everywhere here, there are castles practically in every village.

Cathedrals and medieval houses have also built and arranged our cities our habits and some parts our thoughts ways of being.

There are also many tales and legends

Spirituality is part of my inspiration.

The fact of feeling connected to the universe, to a kind of invisible force. A force that gives us the impression that our destiny is partly written in advance. A bond between us and the reason we live.

Find what each of us can bring to other humans and to the world in general. Live, to be proud of having had a good life! There are also the creations of famous artists such as Tolkien, Leonard de Vinci, Charles Beaudelaire, etc… The sequence of the Golden ratio (Fibonacci sequence) is widely used in the creation of my works of art.

To sum up, my imagination and my inspiration are shaped by history, my environment of legends and spirituality.

PD: What is the proudest moment in your music career so far?

FLAVIEN: There are several beautiful moments, which I will remember all my life.

When we saw our music-video «Indil malta» on the big screen at the cinema «l’Epée de Bois» in Paris because we had been awarded and projected at the Paris Film Awards in July 2022.

To see one of his works projected in the movie theater on the big screen was incredible.

The fact that our music-video was also shown at the cinema in Los Angeles during the Marina Del Rey film Fetsival 2022.

Then our music-vdeo and song «Indil Malta» was awarded best original song and best music-video at the London Film Awards in August 2022.

This project is inspired by a language written by Tolkien, and be be rewarded in its own country made me very happy!

And then the feedback from the public, when some people tell me that our music makes them travel, forget their illness or their problems, at that moment I tell myself that my creations have achieved their goals and for me it’s a nice compliment.

PD: Promoting one’s music is such a challenge these days, especially with so many new artists emerging from bedrooms in the day of the home studio. How is that going?

FLAVIEN: It is important to take your time, promoting song by song is a strategy that I have put in place to make my work known over time. This allows me to measure the result of a promo song by song, which allows me to test many services and tools with a reasonable number of songs. We keep what works best and we look for ways to improve, song after song.

PD: And how do you book and promote your live shows and tours? Any performances coming up?

FLAVIEN: In this style of music (folk-metal/pagan) trying to perform on stage is difficult.

Because I’m looking in France, but there’s a fairly small community, so it’s complicated to find a concert.

But I have to try in Germany and the Netherlands, this type of music is more popular there, maybe it will work better than in France.

However, playing on the street still works. So I plan to go and play in some beautiful places around us, towards the castles and medieval villages of the Loire Valley.

PD: What do you think about downloading music online? What about streaming sites like Spotify?

FLAVIEN: There are good things, like the possibility of reaching new listeners everywhere on the world !

It is also the possibility of better understanding your audience, seeing the artists they love in addition to us.

Knowing and understanding your audience better is always instructive to improve your communication and the promotion of your work.

For streaming platforms, there should also be a way to communicate directly with the people who listen to us. Because for the moment, this is more an audio library, bring the possibility of communicating, exchanging directly with its public on these sites would be practical.

The only thing at the moment that I can fault is the remuneration that I find quite low on streaming platforms.

PD: What song do you wish you’d written and why?

FLAVIEN: My choose goes for «Gortoz A ran» from Denez Prigent and Lisa Gerrard This song is amazing for me.

It’s pretty hard to say why, it’s the powerful emotions that this song gives off.

PD: Is there anything you don’t like about the music industry, which you would change if you could?

FLAVIEN: What I hate the most in the music industry is the way we are considered by some.

When bars and or concert programmers offer you to play a concert without paying you money but promise you «exposure».

Exposure does not feed and does not allow reinvestment in work.

Look, when I go to a restaurant, do I offer them to feed me, without paying them for their work but telling them that they will gain in «exposure»? Obviously no one does that ! It’s aberrant, yet it’s everyday in the music world when you are trying to find new concerts.

In addition, the streaming remuneration remains low, although I think it should improve over time.

You also have to be well informed, look for your partners for your promotion, otherwise there is the risk of ending up with bots, fake streams.

Also avoid promotions that will never be profitable in the long term.

PD: So, what are you working on at the moment?

FLAVIEN: Right now I’m working on making the next music-videos and the short film that will go with them.

 My goal is to make one music-video per song from the album «Alcara», so 7 music-videos remain to be done because «Indil Malta» is already made.

The 8 clips are tied together by an overarching story.

Then, when we have the 8 music-videos, I plan to reuse some parts to make a short film that I am writing (21 minutes).

It’s a way to produce 8 music-videos, to use them both for music and for cinema. It remains to work on the financing of the project, if there are executive producers who want to join this adventure, you are welcome 😉

PD: Where can we learn more about you and buy your music/merch online

FLAVIEN: You can go to my Shopify shop , the full CD «ALCARA» is availabe and ready to be sent and dedicated by me all over the world ! https://shop.spotify.com/fr/artist/2Qep9NgvLs0SNSK1obIJ2V/product/alcara-ep?utm_medium=app&utm_source=spotify&utm_term=00a4669dc1e13b3680eeca808ca860015c99470081a555b039b351 Thank You ! Merci ! Flavien

Flavien links:
Band/Artist location – Angers (Loire Valley, France)
Facebook – You Tube – Merch – 
Instagram – Apple – Spotify – Deezer – bfanlink – TikTok –
Check our page for Flavien